Your Word Is Truth

It's a rare moment when the house is quiet. I'm thankful for those moments, but also giving thanks that it's not always quiet. My children and husband are blessings, teaching me patience, reliance on God alone, and what it means to love. I praise God for humbling me, convincting me in areas I am blind to. I am embarking on a journey of encouraging my husband with my words. That means refraining from any kind of criticism, to him personally, complaining about him to someone else, or (hardest of all) complaining about him to myself. That also means daily telling him something I love about him or am grateful for. I need prayer in this. I am quick to speak with a cutting tongue. My prayer is to become like that much-venerated woman of Proverbs 31:11-12: "The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not evil, all the days of her life." I am also praying I can do a better job of taking care of our ho...

My family has gone to a church fellowship, which I am sorry to miss, but couldn't handle today, being very pregnant and sorely exhausted from yesterday's bustle of shifting everyone's bedrooms around to get ready for our newest member's arrival. Thanking the Lord for the quiet. As I sit, this overcast, quiet Sunday afternoon, my thoughts are on all the things I am waiting for. I am awaiting this new one's birth with greater and greater anticipation, as discomforts become greater and our preparations become more complete. I have to remind myself how like Christ's incarnation pregnancy is...how He gave up His place, His glory, His form; set aside some of His divine attributes (like omnipresence); and confined Himself to a human body, restricted in many more ways than I am in this pregnant one.  "...Christ Jesus; who being in very nature God,  did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of...

I have spent the last day and a half reading the new biography of John MacArthur by Iain Murray. As I read, I can't help but thank the Lord for that godly man and the influence he has had in my life. I am even more encouraged and convicted as I read about his personal life and dedication to his calling. When I grow up, I want to be like John MacArthur...in character, love for truth, and absolute unwavering faith in God's word.

I am often frustrated with the amount of time I spend on the computer...and yet it is also useful and needed. I don't really enjoy it, yet it keeps me there for hours! A puzzling paradox to ponder... Technology is so useful, makes us feel so connected, but really disconnects us from the people around us, whom Jesus calls our neighbors. If I am to love my neighbor (right now, it's #5, playing in a chair next to me) as myself, is my time really well spent on a blog, posting a homeschooling ad, answering emails, listening to a good sermon, encouraging a friend or two on Facebook? I haven't even made myself "presentable" so I can take my children to piano lessons yet (not to mention to avoid visually offending my family), and it's almost lunch time. My home needs organizing, my children need attention, laundry needs doing, lunch needs making... I pray for wisdom in this. Not too little connection, Lord, but not too much either!

Julia Marie Lawrence April 19, 2008 5 lb. 13 oz. Look what God did!!! Isn't she precious??? She's now two months old, but she was 5 weeks early, so that works out to about...3 1/2 weeks? Anyway, she weighs a hefty 10 lb. 7 oz. now. We've had a fun week...my aunt and sis were here to spoil everyone. I hadn't seen my aunt for 12 years...since before I got married. We had a wonderful time and I'm so glad she came!! All the kiddos... (almost) Leslie got glasses a couple of weeks ago. She looks so grown up... I hope I can figure out how to post this. I'm blog-illiterate! We are planning on starting the new school year on Monday! Yes, we're a little crazy. But I'm hoping to be less crazy next year and take Fridays off. Yes, OFF!! Let's go to the library, or on a field trip, or do some art, or piano, or just play some games together! Hi Lisa, love you!!

I spent two hours on the phone yesterday with two of my favorite people...my sister Ann, and my mother-in-law Carol. (No wonder I was up late.) There's nothing like true godly fellowship, I can't ever get enough of it. If you want to talk about the Lord and applying the Bible to life, than I'm yours until I drop. What an encouraging evening it was! I love my MIL, I have the best one ever, hands down, no disputing. She's my Mom to me, the godliest example I know, and loves the Lord, me without condition, and is cheerful, self-sacrificing, and able to look at life objectively, which encourages me. I would love to be less subjective. Much less. Ann I can usually spend hours on the phone with. My only sister (we have an older brother, who's married to the sweetest, funniest sis-in-law ever, who has a great blog of her own) is a God-sent blessing. I MUST go. I have no idea what my house looks like downstairs after having written this epistle.

Praise God for encouraging believers! This weekend was busy, yet a blessing, even though I start out this morning feeling worn out and crampy. God is good, and His grace will completely suffice today! Saturday morning I had a rehearsal for the Allen Philharmonic's 10th anniversary gala dinner. We played with a fantastic fiddle player, Tom Demer, who was a great guy, humble and funny. I love fiddle music, it's such fun to play, even though I'm terrible at improvisation and don't play much of it. I think it's because everyone who plays it has so much plain fun doing it! If we classical musicians would have more fun and be less straight-laced, it might be more enjoyable for those who attend our performances. (Although it is hard to relax when we're playing something really challenging.) As a Christian, my goal is further to bring God glory in what I play and do, and having a joyful confidence can further that end even as I work hard to be able to play difficult pas...